Pressing apparatus



June 23, 1931.

I V. A. RAY

PRESSING APPARATUS Filed March 24. 1930 INVENTOR, 1 VANNEY A. Ray a Anoxzwys.

'buck) andva similarly padded clamping Patented June 23, i

v UNITED, STATES PATENT orrics vnmn'sr any; or an: rnancrsco, CALIFORNIA, assm'non- 010mm To namnnnxnpnnm rnnssme mmrus Ap lication filed Iarch'24, 1980. Serial no. 438,404.

This invention relates to garment press-,

ing machines, and especially to such machines as designed for pressing mens pants and wherein the pants are laid on a cloth-padded table or ironing board member (termed a member (termed a head) is brought down tightly-upon the pants while hotsteam is released from within the head, all as is well known. The principal object of the present invention is to provide improvements in'- which the head is covered with a permanent sheet of metal instead of the usual cloth padding and the metal is of such a-character that any tendency to make the arment shine is avoided. Other objects wil appear in the following specification and accompanying drawings.

Since the invention relates only to the head of such a machine as outlined, the drawings are restricted to the head.

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the head of a pants pressing machine fitted with my improved features. I

Fig. 2 is a plan view of 1.

Fig.3 is a bottom view of ig. 1.

Fig. 4 is an end view of Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is a greatly enlarged cross section of the clamging plate of the head showing my improve metal facing.

Fig. 6 is a view similar to that of Fig. 5

. showing a modified assemblage of the elements.

The heads orclampi'ng plates of these ma chines are as mentioned usuallyl covered with cloth padding through which t e steam penetrates in ressing the garment and this necessarily ta es away some of the efiiciency of the'machine for the softer the pressing surfaces the more diflicult to produce a smooth, flat garment, and to overcome this attempts have been made to use a metal pressure sheet against the goods, but unless this were especially formed at great expense the tendency was to make the shine. In experimenting \with such machines in actual business of ressing rments I have discovered that ift e hea metal body of the clamp' plate is cove overits WOlkllfi face with a thin sheet of n'on-corrodible met which is perforated over its entire surface with very minute holes all punched in the plate in a mannerto leave many thousands of small burrs on the outside of the sheet, that when the size and proportions of the holes are right-an improvement of great value is efi'ected inasmuch as it entirely avoids the :cloth. padding, gives a hard surface, and therefore results in perfectly fiat work, the unusually fine perforatin gives even steam distribution and the hun reds of thousands of-small burr effectually avoid any tendency to make the goods shine. Besides the above the covering-sheet is cheap to manufacture and is easily applied to any pressing machine of the character mentioned.

' 3 In the drawings 1 represents the clamping member or head which is of oval or ironing board shape andis usually concaved at. its under-side aslindicated iii Fig. 4 so as to fit over the complementarily curved upper surface of. the ironing board or back not shown.

This head is usually hollow or provided with internal passages and supplied with' steam through a pipe or hose 2 arranged to move with the head, and the lower wall3ofthe head is dpierced with holes labout of-an inch in iameter spaced about one inch apart over which a wirescreen is ordinarily placed followed by the cloth packing but which in I metal and the entire area of the late perfo-' rated with very fine holes as in 'cated at 7 rforated burr-surfaced plate 5 as dein Fig. 3. These holeshave been found to work well when of about 1/64 of an inch in diameter and spaced about "inch centers. The holes in ad] acent rows are sta red'and all are punched from the top s1 e of the sheet so as to leave small annular burrs 7' projecting downward againstthe goods to be pressed.

,directly against the pressure plate 3 of the head as shown in Fig. 6 nevertheless the steam from relatively large holes 4 is able to freely travel laterally in the thousands of small channels and emerge from the. apertures 7 in even distributed condition.

. The staggering of the minute apertures is thought largely responsible forv the evenness of the effects produced.

However, since most. machines now use a piece of woven wire mesh 6 against the lower wall of the head under the cloth padding, this mesh may be left in place after removing the cloth and my improved metal surface sheet may be placed directly against it as indicated in Fig. 5 for the only effect of it would be to slightly increase the steam distribution.

My improved surface sheet is formed at its edge with an upwardly turned flange or margin 8 to fit over the edges of the head and perforated at intervals and finished with grommets 9 for tightly clamping in place to the head.

Various ways will suggest themselves for clamping the sheet 5 to the head, but I have found a series of heavy flat spring bars 10 lying across the top of the head and each supplied at its ends with one or more wire hooks 11 pivotally suspended in holes in the springs, to form an effective means of quickly clamping the plate in place, as the springs are simply forced down at their ends and the hooks engaged into the grommets.

Similar hooks 12 may be used at the ends of the sheet and anchored by spiral springs 13 to the handle 14 of the head.

Having thus described my invention and the manner of its use what I claim is 1. Ina garment steaming and pressing machine of the character described, a sheet metal covering arranged to fit over the face of the presser head finely perforated and having burrs around the perforations on its face adapted to contact with. the garment to be pressed and having undulations on the rear of the sheet for lateralpassage of steam between the sheet and the presser head.

2. In the construction specified in claim 1,

said perforations being staggered so as to preserve slight lateral steam passages in various directions at the back of the plate.

3. A covering plate formed to fit over the face of a steaming and pressing machine headcomprising a thin metal sheet finely perforated over its working surface and having gins of the sheet. VANNEY A. RAY.

burrs around the perforations on the outer surface of the sheet.

. 14. Ina pressing machine of the character described, a thin perforated sheet metal face covering-for the presser head provided with rearwardly turned margins formed with hook 

